Healing Scars
by albinotanuki
Summary: When Hiccup discovers a girl washed up on the island, he discovers she has a strong fear of dragons. Can he help her overcome her fears and make her comfortable with herself overall?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD, just this tory and my OC.

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It was a normal day near he island of Berk; not a cloud in the sky, which made it a perfect day for flying. Hiccup and Toothless soared through the air as the wind swept them through. Both Hiccup and Toothless were one as they road through the sky together; such a bond could not be broken.

As the two were flying, Toothless caught something off the side of his large green eyes off in the distance and turned himself around.

"WHOA! TOOTHLESS!"

Hiccup tried to steer Toothless the other way by pressing his prosthetic leg against the stirrup controlling Toothless' tail fin, but to no avail as they came to the shore if the island and Hiccup was flung off of his dragon.

"TOOTHLESS, WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?!"

Toothless pointed his head towards a small boat on the beach. Looking in the same direction, Hiccup got up, walked over to the boat, and peaked in. In the boat lay an unconscious teenage girl about his size, maybe even smaller, with a scarf wrapped around her head. She looked sick from days of being out at sea. Hiccup came closer to the girl inspecting her. His concern for her health and his curiosity lead his hand over to the scarf covering her face, but his eyes wandered over to the girl's hands, which were covered in gloves of scar tissue. Hiccup then realized that this girl had been burnt and that taking off the girl's scarf while she was unconscious would not only be rude, but perhaps even cruel as she may as well be hiding more scars on her face. Hiccup knew he had to get the girl help, so he carried her in his arms, put her on Toothless' back, and they took off into the air as Hiccup held the girl in his arms, keeping her secure as they flew off.

As they were in the air and starting to approach the village, the girl opened her blue eyes, looking up at Hiccup. Wondering why there was so much win in the air, the girl looked around her surrounding and seeing that she had been riding on a giant night fury several feet in the air, started to scream, startling both Hiccup and Toothless as they crash landed in the middle of the village. The girl stumbled about, trying to stand on her two feet and gasped, seeing dragons about in the middle of the village. She shivered in fear as both dragons and vikings stared directly at her. It was then she felt something brush up against her leg, looked down to see a tiny terrible terror at her feet, and fainted as Hiccup ran to her side in concern and the rest of the vikings circled around.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!" barked Stoic the Vast, passing himself through the crowd.

Hiccup came forward, "Dad, Toothless and I found this girl on the beach. She's sick, so we tried to bring her back to the village, but then she freaked out and fainted."

"Well its no wonder she did. Your dragon and the rest of the dragons in the village must've scared her." Mildew, the old village curmudgeon stepped forth.

'Here we go again.' Hiccup thought to himself as he rolled his eyes.

"The poor girl must've been attacked by a dragon once in her lifetime. The scars on her hands show it." said Mildew after taking close inspection on the girl, "I'm telling you, dragons are dangerous beasts. The girl would probably die from shock if we don't get her far away from the dragons as possible."

"Dad!" Hiccup spoke in protest to his father.

"For once, Mildew is right, Hiccup." said Stoic, "We can't stress the girl's health by having her be constantly afraid with all these dragons around."

"Well then its settled. I'll take the girl under my wing then. She'll be safe at my place away from the beasts."

Hiccup watched Mildew sternly as the old man scooped the girl up into his arms and carried her off. Even if Mildew's intentions were good (which would've been a shock to the young dragon trainer), he couldn't help but feel suspicious of the old man and what he would do to the girl while looking after her.

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Well, that's the first chapter. Please R&R.


	2. Chapter 2

Here's the second chapter.

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A few days had passed since the girl was brought in. Last Hiccup had heard, the girl had mostly recovered from her illness and decided to pay her a visit. Hiccup got up early and was about to head off to head to Mildew's house when he was greeted by Toothless, who wagged his tail excitedly wanting to come with him.

"Sorry Toothless, I can't bring you with me." Hiccup tried telling his dragon.

But Toothless was persistent and begged his human more in coming with him. Eventually, Hiccup decided to give in.

"Oh, alright. It WOULD be quicker to get to Mildew's if we fly there."

So Hiccup saddled Toothless, sat on top of the dragon, and soon they were off. It definitely WAS quicker to get to Mildew's house on dragon as it only took a few second to fly over there.

The girl woke up early and slowly went outside into Mildew's cabbage garden. Everything seemed calm and uneventful, until she heard the sound of flapping in the air. All of a sudden, the giant black form of a dragon landed in the middle of the field. The girl gasped in fear and was about to rush into the house when a familiar face stepped off from the dragon.

"Wait, don't run!"

The girl stopped. She remembered the boy from earlier; the same feathery hair, the same soft face, the same forest green eyes. Yes, it was all coming back to her, and to see him riding such a strong, potentially dangerous beast was... fascinating. She was still scared, but her eyes were dead fixed on both the boy and his dragon.

"I know you're scared," Hiccup spoke, slowly approach, "but trust me-"

"Trust YOU?!" a cranky voice from inside the house spoke, "You came in here on that monster of yours, scaring the poor girl, and you expect her to TRUST you?!"

"To be fair, it wasn't my idea to bring Toothless along." Hiccup replied.

"Don't try to sass-mouth me, boy." said Mildew wrapping his arm around the girl as if to comfort her, "Of course you would be stupid enough to bring your 'precious dragon' over here. Not only would you be so insensitive to scare the girl, but you've also had to come in and ruin my cabbage crop."

Hiccup looked down at his feet and at Toothless seeing as they were indeed crushing Mildew's cabbages.

"Look, I'm sorry about your cabbages, but I don't think keeping the girl locked away forever is good for her."

"As if you know what's best." Mildew snarled, "The girl has suffered enough already; she doesn't need to be burdened anymore by you or any more dragons. She's perfectly happy with the way things are now."

But one look into the girl's sky blue eyes said other wise, as if she seemed more scared to stay with Mildew than she was of Toothless.

"Come on child, lets get you inside." Mildew said tenderly to the girl as he coaxed her inside.

Hiccup sighed and turned to Toothless.

"This isn't right." he said to his dragon, "Mildew can't shut her off from the world forever; she need's to conquer her fears if she's ever going to be happy."

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Tell me what you think. Please R&R


	3. Chapter 3

Here's chapter 3.

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Hiccup had just come back from the docks with a basket full of fish for Toothless. Toothless came running to his human companion and licked him constantly.

"Whoa, easy Toothless." Hiccup laughed a bit as he gently shoved Toothless' head aside.

At that very moment, Hiccup saw the girl standing a few feet away, staring at the both of them.

"Hi there." Hiccup waved. He had no idea how the girl got out of Mildew's house, but he was glad she was finally out. "I'm Hiccup. This is Toothless."

The girl stood there nervously, eying both Hiccup and Toothless cautiously.

Hiccup decided to try to help the girl gain a little confidence and took a fish out of the basket.

"Wanna help feed him?"

The girl shy-ed away a little. Feed him? What if he tries to bit off her hand?

"Its okay, I'll help you." said Hiccup as he approached her, gave her the fish and slowly walked with her up to his dragon. "Now, just hold your hand out flat and gently hand it over to him."

The girl nervously approached Toothless, holding the fish like Hiccup had said. Toothless gently sniffed the fish, then quickly grabbed it in his jaws, and swallowed it whole. The girl flinched as Toothless took the fish away.

"Don't be scared; you did great." said Hiccup placing a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder.

Toothless then turned his eyes upward and started to move his head back and forth while making guttural noises. The girl didn't know what he was doing and was scared. Suddenly Toothless spit out half of the fish he had just eaten and looked up at the girl with gleeful eyes.

"That means he likes you." said Hiccup, "Thank you, Toothless, but I don't think she's hungry."

Toothless just looked up at them with his big green eyes and purred. Hiccup then took the girl's hand and started to lead it over to Toothless' nose. The girl tried to pull away, but Hiccup held on toghtly.

"Its okay. This is why we're here."

Hiccup then placed the girl's hand on Toothless' snout. Toothless purred and the girl's eyes started to light up. She couldn't believe it; she was touching a dragon and it wasn't hurting her.

"There you are." a familiar cranky voice spoke.

Toothless looked over at Mildew and growled.

"Easy Toothless." said Hiccup trying to calm the beast.

"I see you've been trying to woo that girl onto your side. Well it won't work. That dragon maybe calm now, but sooner or later he'll snap and try to attack."

"Only if he's provoked." Hiccup shot back, "I'm not gonna let her live in fear any longer. This is why I'm doing this."

"Well then why don't we let her decide whom she's going with. Me, or the crazy boy with the fire breathing demon."

The girl looked over at Mildew and Hiccup and Toothless. Sure, she was still scared of dragons, but Mildew was so creepy that going back with him scared her more. The girl then decided to go with Hiccup and Toothless and patted Toothless on the head.

"Well, looks like she's decided." Hiccup smirked.

Mildew cursed under his breath and started walking away, but not before saying one final word to the girl.

"Be careful, child. Dragons are still dangerous beasts. They've hurt you once; they can do it again."

Hiccup turned to the girl.

"Well, I'm glad you've made the right decision."

"...Eir..."

"What?" Hiccup asked, thinking he had just heard her speak.

The girl looked up at Hiccup with those big blue eyes.

"My name is Eir. Thank you, Hiccup."

Hiccup couldn't help but smile now that the girl finally had confidence enough to speak.

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Tell me what you think. Please R&R.


	4. Chapter 4

Here's the fourth chapter.

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Hiccup wanted Eir to get use to some of the other dragons on Berk, so he gathered his friends over at the academy, telling them to bring their dragons with them.

"Okay, so I want you all to be nice to her. Eir is very shy and very self-conscious."

"Wait, her name is 'Ear'? Does she have a brother named 'Foot'?" asked Tuffnut.

"I believe she's named after the goddess of medicine." responded Astrid.

At that very moment, Eir walked in from the academy entrance. Hiccup ran over to greet her.

"Eir, glad you could come."

Hiccup lead Eir over to the group.

"Everyone, Meet Eir. Eir, this is Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs."

"Hi." Fishlegs waved.

Eir waved back shyly.

"Alright, lets introduce you to some of the dragons we have here. Astrid, would you introduce your dragon first?" asked Hiccup.

"Right." said Astrid as she went and came back with her dragon. "This is Stormfly. The Deadly Nadder. Even though she's one of the most beautiful of the dragons, never underestimate her power. She can fling her poisonous spines of her tail at you and the fire she breathes is hotter than any other dragon; her fire breath can also be used as a welding torch."

Eir looked nervously at the Deadly Nadder. Even though she was indeed a beautiful dragon, the mention of poison spines and welding torch fire scared her.

"Wanna pet her?" Astrid asked, "She loves it when you compliment her on her colorful scales as you pet her."

Eir thought about it and then cautiously went up to the dragon. She then slowly placed her hand on the dragon's snout and started to gently stroke it.

"Hello. You're a very beautiful girl." said Eir softly.

Stormfly chirped softly as Eir petted her.

After that, it was Ruffnut and Tuffnut's turn to introduce their dragon.

"Barf! Belch! Get over here!"

The twins' two headed dragons scampered over.

"The Hideous Zippleback." triumphed Ruffnut, "It has two heads. One breathes gas-"

"And the other lights it." finished Tuffnut, "They're great for blowing stuff up. We like to ride our dragon and shoot at all kinds of stuff."

"Yeah, great" Eir said nervously.

"Okay, I think we should move over to Fishlegs and his Gronckle." Hiccup suggested.

Fishlegs called for his dragon as she hobbled over to her owner.

"This is Meatlug." Fishlegs introduced, "She's got a thick hide, a five meter wingspan, and is the sweetest, most loyal dragon you could ask for. Isn't that right, girl?"

Fishlegs hugged his dragon as the Gronkle licked him back and wagged her tail. Eir couldn't help but smile, thinking how cute the scene was.

"Okay, its my turn." Snotlout said shoving Fishlegs aside, "Hookfang, get your butt over here!"

Snotlout's dragon ran to him as he growled at his owner. Eir shrieked as she hid behind Hiccup.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" said Snotlout, "That's the Monstrous Nightmare for ya. He's got 5000 pounds of muscle, razor sharp claws, and when he attacks, he likes to set himself on fire."

Hiccup looked over at Eir, who cringed behind him. She was so scared to the point that tears were starting to come out.

"I think Eir might be all too familiar with the Monstrous Nightmare, Snotlout."

"Oh come on, I deal with Hookfang all the time. Once you let him know who's boss, he's EASY to control."

Suddenly, Hookfang lit Snotlout's pants on fire.

"Excuse me one moment."

Snotlout ran screaming over to the water trough and sighed as he sat his rump in the water.

"Well, that's all the dragons." said Hiccup, "You did really well, Eir."

"May I go home now?" Eir asked shyly.

"You're seriously not going back to Mildew's, are you?" asked Hiccup.

Eir looked away, nervously. Of course she didn't want to go back, but where else could she go?

"I'll take her to my place." said Astrid.

"Astrid, are you sure?" asked Hiccup.

"Don't worry, I'll look after her. We girls gotta stick together anyways." she said, wrapping her arm around Eir.

Eir smiled a little. It would be nice to have a sister for a while.

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So what do you think? Please R&R.


	5. Chapter 5

Fifth chapter. Sorry its so short.

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Eir spent the night with Astrid at her house. They played a game of Hnefatafl and then went out to put Stormfly to sleep.

"I like to give Stormfly a bit of chicken before she goes to sleep so the next morning she'll have enough energy to fly."

Astrid handed Stormfly a drumstick and the dragon gobbled it up.

"She sure looks like she could fly for miles with these enormous wings." said Eir as she gently petted the dragon.

"Yeah. I hope I can beat Hiccup's record. He and Toothless are the fastest flyers on Berk."

"Hiccup's really nice." Eir replied, "I like his dragon a lot."

"Well, if it wasn't for those two, we wouldn't have ever made peace with the dragons."

Astrid couldn't help but look at Eir's scarred hands and then at the scarf around her ace, wondering what she was hiding behind it.

"So what happened?" asked Astrid, "How did you get those scars?"

Eir was nervous when Astrid asked that question. She didn't want to remember what happened all those years ago, but she couldn't just bottle herself up.

"I was just a little girl when a Monstrous Nightmare attacked my village." Eir started, "My village tried to fight off the dragon from taking our livestock. I tried to get out of the way, but I tripped and fell. My mother came to my rescue and tried to shield me as the dragon breathed fire on us. I wouldn't even be here if my mother hadn't sacrificed herself to save me. However..."

Eir slowly took her scarf off to reveal one side of her head full of strawberry blonde hair while the other side was bare with old scar tissue that twisted her face with a flared nostril, swollen lips, and barely even an ear left.

"I still bare the scars."

Eir wrapped the scarf back around her face.

"It was bad enough that I was small and not as strong as the other viking children, but to have a constant reminder on my face of how weak I am- I couldn't take it anymore, so I ran away from home."

Eir's eyes started to fill up with tears. Astrid could sense the pain in Eir's eyes and went over to comfort her.

"Hey, so you have a couple of scars. Big deal, what you look like on the outside isn't as important as what's with in. To be honest, I think you're one of the strongest people I've met; you've been able to pet a dragon despite how scared you were. That takes a lot of guts."

Eir sniffed and looked at Astrid with smiling eyes.

"Thank you. You don't know how much I needed that."

"Always here to help." said Astrid with a smile.

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Okay, so for those who are wondering, Hnefatafl is basically Viking Chess. So anyways, please R&R.


	6. Chapter 6

Sixth chapter

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The next morning, Hiccup was helping to teach Eir some tricks in handling a dragon with Toothless.

"Now if you've got a bit of dragon nip in your pocket, just hold it out to their nose and they'll calm down."

Hiccup demonstrated holding the grass to Toothless' nose as the dragon's eyes dilated and started rolling on the ground like a cat. Eir couldn't help but giggle at how cute Toothless was acting.

At that very moment, Mulch and Bucket had stumbled in looking beaten up.

"Mulch! Bucket! What happened?" asked Hiccup.

Mulch tried to catch his breath.

"We were feed'n the animals... when we were attacked by a rock."

"A rock?" Hiccup said in confusion.

"An acid spraying rock! It etched a hole in me bucket!" said Bucket pointing to the hole on his bucket on top of his head.

Hiccup was suspicious about this. He had never heard of a rock attacking people with acid before.

"We need to check this out." he said to his friends.

The viking teenagers went to the field as they saw a dragon scaring the sheep.

"A Changwing." said Hiccup, "It wasn't a rock at all."

"It has a limit of three shots with its acid spit." said Fishlegs, "Since its already attacked Mulch and Bucket, we could probably approach it without getting hit."

"Step aside." said Snotlout, "Let me handle this."

Snotlout cockishly started approaching to dragon when the dragon shot a mouth full of acid at him and Snotlout quickly stepped back as he let out a small shiek.

As the Changewing growled at the teenagers, Eir noticed several lesions on its skin and saw that it was limping.

"Don't hurt it; its injured!"

Eir then cautiously approached the dragon. Eir slowly reached her hand out.

"Its okay. We won't hurt you."

The dragon growled softly as Eir approached it. Gently, she reached her hand out to it. The dragon looked curiously and sniffed her hand. When it sensed that she wasn't a threat, the dragon placed its nose up against Eir's scarred hand. Eir stroked the dragon's head, cooing to it like it was a baby.

Everyone looked in astonishment seeing that the girl who was once afraid of dragons has now approached one without fear.

"Poor thing. I wonder what happened to it?" asked Eir as she petted the dragon's head.

"I don't know, but a Changewing's skin is pretty vulnerable compared to most other dragons." said Fishlegs, "It probably got into a fight with another dragon."

Eir looked at the dragon's wounds. She knew it wouldn't be able to survive on its own with the severity of the injuries it sustained, but she was still willing to save it.

"We'll need bandages. Also some fish, crustaceans, shellfish, tomatoes, fennel, and some boiling water."

Fishlegs spoke, "Wait, aren't those ingredients for-?"

"Bouillabaisse, yes. Its for medicine."

"Food. Alright, I'm liking this." said Tuffnut.

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Yes, I know Bouillabaisse is French, but this is a world where vikings ride dragons; I think a lose interpretation of history in fiction is fine. Anyways, please R&R.


	7. Chapter 7

Seventh chapter.

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The dragon was brought into the village to be cared for. The teens gathered some bandages along with a pot and ingredients for the bouillabaisse. As Eir bandaged the dragon, the others were busy preparing the soup.

"Man, I never though making fish soup would be this hard." said Tuffnut.

"This better be worth it; my arms are tired from making the stock." said Ruffnut.

"If it'll save the dragon, it will be." said Hiccup as he ladled some soup into a bowl and presented it to Eir. "Here you go."

"Thank you."

Eir took the bowl and presented it to the dragon. After smelling the bouillabaisse, the dragon opened its mouth to be fed and Eir slowly poured the soup into its mouth feeding it. As it was being fed, the Changewing turned into different soothing colors.

"He seems to like the soup." said Eir, "Hopefully it'll give him enough energy to pull through."

"You seem to know a lot about medicine." said Hiccup as he knelt down to Eir and the dragon.

"Well, having been taken care of for some time with my injuries, I've picked up on a few things."

The dragon made a low growl as if his sides were hurting.

"There. Easy, Bifrost. That's his name, by the way." said Eir.

"It suits him well." Hiccup smiled.

"He probably won't survive in the wild with his injuries." said Eir, "Do you think it would be okay if I looked after him?"

"Well, you're pretty good with him now; I don't see why you wouldn't make a good trainer."

Eir smiled and continued to feed Bifrost.

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Okay, for those of you who aren't familiar with Norse mythology, Bifrost was the name of the rainbow bridge that connected our world to Asgard. Anyways, please R&R.


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